Bats

BRAINTREE – South champion Plymouth North took batting practice after school dismissed at 2 p.m. yesterday, and the Eagles continued taking BP against North champion North Andover in the Division 2 EMass final. Plymouth North raked four pitchers for 17 hits – four by catcher Mike Walsh – and earned a berth in Saturday’s state championship game by routing the Scarlet Knights, 15-4. “We haven’t been hitting the ball well but I thought we did a good job of hitting the ball today,’’ Eagles coach Dwayne Follette said.

Slumping Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer during a five-run fourth and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-5 on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon moved Pena up from the middle of the lineup to the leadoff spot in an attempt to help him break out of an offensive funk. Pena, who snapped an 0 for 18 slide on his sixth homer of the season, entered Tuesday hitting just .116 in May. Pena's homer to center off Drew Hutchison (3-2) was estimated at 452 feet.

Your eyes tell you playing baseball is a monumental struggle for Edgar Renteria and Manny Ramirez these days, but then you hear Red Sox captain Jason Varitek say Renteria is "just about there," and you listen to manager Terry Francona's spin, that Ramirez's swings late in last night's 7-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves could be a sign of his renaissance. Is it wishful thinking or are they seeing something the rest of us don't? On a rainy night in a game delayed 30 minutes at the start, Renteria committed two of the Sox' four errors, one fielding, one throwing (in the first and sixth innings on balls...

The Baltimore Orioles knocked starter Clay Buchholz out of the game in the sixth inning, put up six runs and hit their major league-leading 65th home run of the season. That would be enough to win most games — except this one against the hard-hitting Boston Red Sox. David Ortiz launched Boston's comeback from a three-run deficit with a mighty home run, and the Red Sox banged out 14 hits in an 8-6 victory Monday night. The Orioles staked starter Tommy Hunter to a 5-2 lead, but after Ortiz homered to begin a three-run sixth, Boston rode the momentum to the finish.

Apart from their contributions since being promoted this month, Daniel Nava and Will Middlebrooks have shared one interesting career highlight: When each hit their first major league home run, it was a grand slam. Middlebrooks hit a game-tying blast in a 9-6 loss to Baltimore in 17 innings May 6. "Yeah, but his was on the first pitch [of his career]," Middlebrooks said, marveling at Nava's slam, which came June 12, 2010, against Philadelphia. "If anything, the joke is that he's hit more since then and I haven't," Nava said.

Hudson High grad Matt Jacobs and former Hopkinton High standout Mark Sanborn each hit over .300 for a University of Massachusetts Lowell baseball team that won 37 games this spring, and the pair have continued to swing hot bats this summer for the Nashua Silver Knights of the new Futures Collegiate Baseball League. A center fielder who bats third in the order, Jacobs was the league’s top hitter with a .398 average through last Wednesday. Sanborn, the cleanup hitter and first baseman, was the league leader with 14 runs batted in. He also had three home runs.

LOS ANGELES - The mysterious deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada over the past several years were caused by a fungus that was brought in from Europe, scientists reported Monday. Researchers had suspected that an invasive species was to blame for the die-off from "white nose syndrome. " Now there is direct evidence the culprit was not native to North America. The findings were reported online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

NEW YORK -- For the second consecutive day, the Red Sox matched a season high by leaving 13 men on base. This time, however, that was a mere footnote to a brazen display of offense on an afternoon at Yankee Stadium that won't soon be forgotten. The Sox bats, indomitable by reputation only in recent weeks, cranked out 27 hits (one shy of the club record), 21 singles (three shy of the club record), and 17 runs, blistering the Yankees, 17-1, in the most lopsided Sox win in the 1,928 meetings between the American League baseball teams of Boston and New York.

How to get there Most Texas caves with summer bat emergences are a short day trip from either San Antonio or Austin. Depending on where you are going, a stop in Johnson City , birthplace of the late President Lyndon Baines Johnson, or Fredericksburg , a quaint town with German beer gardens and antiques shops, can help break up the drive. But if you want to see bats in their natural habitat, you're going to have to do what Texans do all the time: drive. When to go The bats begin migrating from Mexico to central Texas around April, have their pups in early summer , and typically stay...

TAMPA, Fla. — Some random thoughts on the Red Sox written while dodging raindrops in the Sunshine State: • In Philadelphia, it has been speculated that the Red Sox should swap Kevin Youkilis for Joe Blanton. It was suggested here over the winter several times that trading Youkilis for pitching made sense. But the Sox need to get more than Blanton, who would get diced up in the AL East. Better to get a few prospects and build for the future than a 31-year-old who isn't going to make a difference.

With every out the New York Yankees made and every run they gave up, the boos from the sparse crowd got louder. New York's 6-0 defeat to the Kansas City Royals on a misty, dreary Monday night was the Yankees' sixth loss in seven games, dropping them into last place in the AL East this late in the season for the first time since 2008. "At times, it looks like there's 20 people out there playing defense," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "It happens every year. It happens to every team.

Joe Girardi was frustrated. Six losses in seven games left the New York Yankees last in the AL East. "I'm hoping this is rock-bottom," the manager said. No, that's not this week. That was on May 20, 2008, 45 games into Girardi's first season as the Yankees manager — and the only season since 1994 that New York failed to make the playoffs. As Yogi Berra says, it gets late early — especially in the Bronx. For a team that likes to constantly refer to its history, 2012 is starting to resemble 2008, when the Yankees started 20-25 and never really contended.

The town's Recreation Commission and the AtBats Training Center are partnering this summer on a program allowing local youths to attend the town's summer camp at Flerra Field for a half day and then go to the baseball and softball facility for the afternoon. The two camps operate separately but are being offered together as a convenience to families. Applications to both programs are available on the town's website, www.town.boxborough.ma.us.

Johnny Cueto pitched effectively into the eighth inning, Ryan Ludwick delivered two big hits and the Cincinnati Reds closed out their extended visit to New York by beating the Yankees 5-2 Sunday. The Reds rallied late against CC Sabathia, sending the Yankees to their fifth loss in six games. Aroldis Chapman closed it out as Cincinnati took two of three at Yankee Stadium, right after splitting a pair at Citi Field against the Mets. Cueto (5-1) gave up a two-run homer to Raul Ibanez in the sixth.

Fernando Sales' shaky ninth inning spoiled a dramatic moment for slugger Lance Berkman. Salas retired only one of the five batters he faced in the ninth inning, walking A.J. Ellis on four pitches with the bases loaded to force in a run and send the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night after Berkman tied it in the top half with a pinch home run with two outs. Berkman, 3 for 31 with 10 strikeouts against Dodgers left-hander Ted Lilly, was not in manager Mike Matheny's starting lineup in the opener of a series...

This loss seemed a lot less important to the White Sox. Chicago played with heavy hearts Wednesday night after the death of longtime pregame instructor Kevin Hickey at age 56 following a lengthy illness. Gavin Floyd gave up a three-run homer to Albert Pujols and a two-run shot to Vernon Wells in the 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. "I knew Hick very well. He cared about baseball and he loved baseball — but first and foremost, he loved White Sox baseball," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said.

BOSTON (AP) — Brandon McCarthy beat an AL East opponent once again, holding Boston to one run over 6 2-/3 innings as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Red Sox 4-2 Wednesday night. Seth Smith drove in a pair of runs for Oakland. The A's, who started the day with the majors' worst batting average and fewest runs in the AL, took two of three games from the Red Sox. Boston has lost seven of its last eight in Fenway Park. McCarthy (2-3) allowed five hits, walked three and fanned four.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen reports that Ryan Westmoreland had five plate appearances in instructional league games in the Dominican Republic over the last two days. So the 21-year-old has fulfilled his goal of getting a live at-bat before the end of 2011. What an accomplishment considering that he had brain surgery in March of 2010. Westmoreland grounded out twice, walked, struck out and was hit by a pitch. In terms of other news: ߦ Oakland is close to a deal that would send Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to Arizona for prospects.

TAMPA, Fla. — Some random thoughts on the Red Sox written while dodging raindrops in the Sunshine State: • In Philadelphia, it has been speculated that the Red Sox should swap Kevin Youkilis for Joe Blanton. It was suggested here over the winter several times that trading Youkilis for pitching made sense. But the Sox need to get more than Blanton, who would get diced up in the AL East. Better to get a few prospects and build for the future than a 31-year-old who isn't going to make a difference.

Mark Teixeira hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning, Curtis Granderson also connected, and the New York Yankees got three hits from Alex Rodriguez in an 8-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night. It was the fourth win in five games for the Yankees, who improved to 4-0 at Camden Yards this season. Teixeira had five hits in his previous 33 at-bats and was hitting .220 when he drove a 1-2 pitch from former Yankee Luis Ayala (1-1) into the right-field seats.